Ruin - Songs of Reverie and Ruin



Played this the other day, totally unique 80s hardcore from Philadelphia. I'm posting it here now because Southern Lord recently reissued this on an vinyl as a 2xLP. I recall reading about the band raising money for reissues awhile ago, but didn't hear anything about them actually happening until a day or two ago.

Bandcamp - Purchase/Stream

Ad/Promo copy from Southern Lord:

Southern Lord are extremely pleased to be reviving the music of Philadelphia's lost punk heroes, Ruin. Long considered a treasured local delicacy of the city's earlier hardcore scene, Ruin released two albums during their original run, 1984's He-Ho and 1986's Fiat Lux, both of which will be combined in for a vinyl release this December.

Set against the backdrop of a city destroying itself in slow motion, Ruin were of a Philly generation that had to create its own culture to push back against the despair and dead ends that they were confronted with. Their relative isolation is mirrored in the distance between Ruin's muscular, turbo-garage jams and the rest of US punk/HC at the time - the band got it across not through violent speed and mania, but with body-shaking chunks of simpler punk that refused to fit in with the wider template. Labelled from their early days as a Buddhist hardcore band (though not strictly the truth), Ruin are an object of intrigue that have rewarded the curious since 1982, but getting your hands on either out of print He-Ho or Fiat Lux has never been an easy task. A recorded output that totals 28 tracks (including a couple of significant Leonard Cohen covers that were praised by the artist himself) will at last be available on a wider scale, including original scans of the detailed lyric sheets and inserts, as well as in depth retrospective notes that help to place Ruin in Philly and punk history.

Performing on candlelit stages all clad head to toe in white, Ruin aren't a band to listen to if you want to hear another near identical iteration of a New York, LA or Midwest sound - they simply couldn't be playing for any other reason than to satisfy themselves and realise their ideas. They rocked hard and loud but in their own method, and the heat and sweat of their playing emanates from the rich recordings.

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Pink Floyd - Is There Anybody Out There? - The Wall Live 1980-81
Columbia, 1980



Two-disc box set that came with a 64 page hardcover book containing photos, essays, and blueprints of the stage set for the live performances of The Wall that Floyd put on at Earls Court in 1980 and 1981.

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Quote
Gordon Rekcikssa
Pink Floyd - Is There Anybody Out There? - The Wall Live 1980-81
Columbia, 1980

Very cool. I don't have a ton of Floyd stuff, but I do like them. Haven't heard the Wall in years but for big albums by big rock bands we all know live recordings can often be more interesting than the studio stuff.

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Laub - Filesharing CD



One of my favorite albums of the early 2000s, this was Laub's third album but the first to make use of the kind of microsound, computer-generated skittering electronics that outfits like Raster-Noton and Mille Plateaux were focusing on around this time. The electronics here are not as cold as that stuff though. They successfully make pop song structures and fit very well with Antye Greie's understated vocals (which are all in German). To me, this is where the whole trip hop scene should've gone, but didn't. Even though this album is about 15 years old now, it sounds remarkably contemporary to me.

I don't think Laub is active anymore, but Antye Greie is still making music under her AGF moniker that's a bit more experimental/abstract. I liked some of that a lot, but haven't kept up with her releases over the years.

Discogs Page

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^ Very cool chilled out vibe to that. I really like her vocals.

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